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Environmental NewsSTEVENSON, Alabama, January 12, 2009 (ENS) - The Tennessee Valley Authority's second waste spill in three weeks at one of its coal-fired power plants has drawn demands that the federally owned and operated utility act immediately to secure the waste at its facilities.
A 10,000 gallon leak of process water from the gypsum pond at the Widows Creek Fossil Plant in Stevenson was discovered just before dawn on Friday. TVA officials say the leak has stopped.
The utility said Sunday that the spill occurred when a cap dislodged from an unused 30-inch standpipe in the gypsum pond. This allowed water and gypsum to bypass the existing system and drain into the adjacent settling pond, filling it to capacity and causing it to overflow.
. . .
The TVA reported that the Alabama leak was from a gypsum pond at its Widows Creek Fossil Plant. Gypsum is a mineral that contains calcium sulfate, which is used to make drywall, cement and fertilizer. The pond contains limestone spray from scrubbers that clean sulfur dioxide from the facility's eight coal-fired units.
The TVA reportedly has set up containment booms to trap contaminated water released into Widows Creek. The Alabama creek is a tributary to the Tennessee River, which is also threatened by the spill in Kingston.
The city of Scottsboro, Alabama about 15 miles downstream from the Widows Creek Fossil Plant uses the Tennessee River as drinking water.
Read more:
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jan2009/2009-01-12-091.asp
"The Tennessee Valley Authority has a lot to answer for," said U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer of California, who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
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